International Garden Expo closes in Beijing

The ninth China (Beijing) International Garden Expo, which has run for six months alongside the Yongding River in Beijing, closed on Monday. The expo showcased garden styles from 69 Chinese cities and 37 cities of 29 countries from around the world. Some 1,200 shows from 48 cities of 28 countries were put on the stage during the past half a year. The expo received more than 6.1 million visitors, or about 33,000 every day, setting a historic high. The country's first national-level garden museum, the Museum of Chinese Gardens, which opened on the 513-hectare site at the same time as the expo, will remain open and continue to be free of charge for visitors. However, the rest of the expo site will be under renovation from Tuesday and will open again next April as a city park. The China (Beijing) International Garden Expo was hosted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the Beijing Municipal Government. The 10th version of the event will open in September 2015 in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province.